Ever since the advent of portable media players, such as the SONY WALKMAN and later the APPLE IPOD, people have been listening to music on the go. Nowadays, most, if not all, smart phones include built-in media players. As such, a large percentage of the developed world's population listens to music on portable devices. Often, users wear headphones or earphones to keep private what they are listening to or to not disturb others around them. Many users prefer using earphones over headphones due to their compact size, lightweight, and ease of portability. Headphones are typically placed on or over a user's ear, whereas earphones are smaller than headphones and include small speakers that fit into the outer ear of the wearer, making earphones easier to carry and use on-the-go. Some earphones also direct sound down the user's external auditory meatus or ear canal to the user's tympanic membrane or eardrum where the sound is converted into vibrations that are perceived by the brain as sound.
These days, most portable media players and smart phones are sold with the media player manufacture's standard earphones, such as APPLE'S EARBUDS or EARPODS. These standard earphones are typically made from a rigid material having a smooth outer surface, and are sized for the average person's ear. As such, these standard earphones suffer from a number of drawbacks, such as: (i) not fitting snuggly within all wearer's ears, (ii) made of a hard plastic resulting in the earphones slipping-out of the wearer's ears when the wearer is moving or exercising and/or when the earphone's outer surface is moist from, for example, perspiration, (iii) being uncomfortable when worn for a long period of time, (iv) not adequately directing sound into a user's ear canal, and (v) not adequately blocking ambient noise.
Moreover, earphones, like APPLE's EARPODS, are designed so that the main speaker is covered by a grill that is recessed, i.e., the housing of the earphone extends further than the speaker grill. This design allows unwanted material, such as pocket lint or earwax, to get caught in the recess. Over time the recess collects this unwanted material, which is not easily visible to the user. This unwanted material may degrade the sound quality. Moreover this recess is difficult to clean and could lead to infection or in-ear irritation.
While some covers exist for earphones, these covers are not designed to fit the current style of many earphones; are not removable; are overly complex; or fail to address the above drawbacks. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cover for an earphone that allows users to use their existing earphones, while still addressing the above mentioned drawbacks.
In accordance with common practice the various features illustrated in the drawings may not be drawn to scale. Accordingly, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. In addition, some of the drawings may not depict all of the components of a given system, method or device. Finally, like reference numerals may be used to denote like features throughout the specification and figures.